Road to Recovery: 5 Years and Counting
Photography exhibition by Shinpei Kikuchi
March 5 - April 1, 2016 / Main Bar
I live in the town of Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture, on Pacific seaboard of the Tohoku region of Japan. The town is famous as being the birthplace of modern iron manufacturing.
When the great earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, I grabbed a camera and fled towards the evacuation center located in the grounds of the local junior high school, with the tsunami close on my heels. From that day on, my family and I began life as refugees. Also from that day, I started to slip out from the evacuation center early in the morning while most of the people were still asleep, walking through the devastation wrought by earthquake and tsunami and photographing the various sights until dusk fell. This became my daily routine.
Five years have now passed since I began to record everyday life - the turning of the seasons, various traditional events and the gradual changes that have taken place. Even today, the situation is such that for various reasons a large number of disaster victims are forced to remain in temporary housing. I intend to continue to photograph the people as they strive to rebuild their towns and communities, showing them as they come together to enjoy local festivals and folk entertainments, in order to ensure that memories of this catastrophe do not fade away.
Shinpei KIKUCHI
Born in Kamaishi City, Iwate Pref., 1948. Graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography (currently the Tokyo Polytechnic University). Studied under FUJIWARA Tadashi at the 'Photo Studio Fujiwara' in Tokyo's Jiyugaoka for 5 years. Returned to Kamaishi in August 1975 where he studied under his father, KIKUCHI Shinichi (1911?1999). After the death of his father he took over management of the Kikuchi Photo Studio.
His house/studio escaped total destruction during the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, but all his photographic data was carried away by the tsunami. Since that time to the present day he has devoted himself to producing a photographic record of the changes in the disaster area.
The Exhibitions Committee